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Interesting Facts About the Titanic’s Anchor

You may have heard about the Titanic because it was famous in a movie called “Titanic,” starring Leonardo Di Caprio and Kate Winslet. But if you only know the Titanic because of the movie, you can find that the original ship has many interesting facts that not many people know, specifically the anchor.

The Titanic’s Anchor Was the Largest Back Then

You should know that the Titanic captured the attention of many since it was the largest and considered unsinkable because of the several compartment doors that anyone can close if the bow was breached. Since the Titanic is the largest ship, its other components were also large, hence the large anchor. The Titanic’s anchor was also considered the largest ship anchor ever made back then.

Using 20 Horses to Pull the Anchor

Because of how large and heavy the anchor was, it was utterly impossible to drag and install it on the Titanic. The anchor weighed over 16 tonnes, which was twice as large as regular-sized anchors at the time. Most of the ship’s anchors only weighed between 7 to 9 tons, which could be easily transported by several horses loaded on a carriage.

But how about a 16-ton ship anchor? As mentioned before, technology was primitive back then, so there was no other way to transport the heavy anchor except to load them in a carriage pulled by using horses. It was supposed to be transported from Netherland’s ironworks to Dudley Railway Station. The train had to travel to Lancashire before it was loaded onto a cargo streamer for the trip to Belfast, Northern Ireland, where the Titanic’s shipyard was located.

The workers needed to develop something to transport the massive anchor to the railway station as quickly as possible. Since they had nothing but horses, the anchor manufacturers decided to go with using 20 Shire horses. You should know that horses are large animals, so lining 20 of them on the road felt like everyone was watching a parade.

Each horse was able to pull at least 2 tons, so it was practical to use 20 of them to carry more than the anchor’s weight by 4 tons. The horses could make the long 3.2 km journey from the anchor’s manufacturing yard to the Dudley Railway Station. It was a fantastic sight for everyone to see who was along the road where the 20 horses passed.

An old image showing the 20 Shire horses making its way to the Dudley Railway Station.

The Anchor Was Forged by Hand

The Titanic’s anchor was forged by hand, which means that it took some time to complete because of the lack of advanced technology and machinery. The anchor was also manufactured by at least three major forging companies, namely Noah Hingley & Sons Ltd, John Rogerson and Co., Lloyds Proving House, and Walter Somers Ltd, to name a few.

It was an impressive feat done by the forging companies since it was the first time they have made an anchor that was large in proportions.

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